Cech was a key player during Jose Mourinho's initial stint with the club and he kept his 209th clean sheet for Chelsea against Hull this weekend.

That took him past Peter Bonetti and into the club's record books, and he is now just 20 shutouts away from overtaking David James' Premier League benchmark.

Speaking in his weekly blog, Mata said he was proud to play beside Cech in the team and praised him for his professionalism and friendleness.

He wrote: "Last Saturday he became the goalkeeper with more clean sheets in the history of Chelsea FC: 209 in 10 seasons, which is spectacular.

"The best thing is that, apart from his stats and his great saves in the key moments of a match, I can tell you that Petr is a great guy, a leading example of professionalism and humility.

"He is a fantastic team mate and you can chat with him about everything (in Spanish!), from music (he plays the drums) to his trips to the South of Spain on holidays. Congratulations my friend, I hope you get many more clean sheets."

Petr Cech kept a clean sheet against Hull at the weekend [GETTY]

“They both won their away games and keep pushing hard”

Juan Mata

Mata also discussed Chelsea's title rivals Liverpool and Manchester City, who he said continued to show their title pushes were right on track with wins over Newcastle and Stoke at the weekend.

"I also kept an eye on Manchester City and Liverpool, two of the most consistent teams in the Premier League this season who are fighting with us for the top spot.